Following its announcement that it will launch sales online, discount supermarket Aldi has revealed that it will not include meat. Instead, it will start with wine by the crate early next year, and launch non-food products by spring 2016.

Glen Kirton, manager of Rooks Online, believes that they simply don’t have the experience to include meat. “Do I think they’re missing an opportunity? No, because I don’t think they have the knowhow of how to do it,” he said.

“I totally understand why a place like Aldi cannot do meat online. It’s too complicated for them. It’s not just about sending a packet of cornflakes through the internet; you’re sending perishable goods, which are a lot different.”

Aldi was unavavailable to provide a comment on why it won’t be including meat in their online expansion.

According to Kantar Worldpanel, online sales currently only hold a 6.8% share of the £105 billion take home grocery market.

This does not mean that there aren’t opportunities for independent butcher shops to expand onto online.

Frank Parker butcher’s shop in Warwickshire has been doing online sales for the past year-and-a-half. Although it is going well, its main focus remains on the shop.

“The online part of our business is nowhere as busy as the shop,” admits director Hannah Parker. “We have a nice big shop and a big counter, where we can display everything, but online just gives people who can’t get here an opportunity to still be able to have our meat delivered at a more convenient time for them.”

Asked whether or not she thinks more butchers should aim to have an online sales site, she said that it was difficult to compare businesses. “It’s different for every butcher. I don’t think we can say that for different butchers, who are perhaps in the high street, that it’s going to be beneficial to them or not.”

Although online sales have been successful, it is more of a side-project to the main shop.

“We’re just happy with what we’re doing at the moment. We’ve got a very busy shop and the online site is just something that helps people who can’t get in really,” added Parker.